Society is a complex, multidimensional organism. In addition to the economic sphere, the field of politics and government, social institutions, there is also a spiritual plane. It penetrates into all the spheres of life of the collective listed above, often exerting a strong influence on them. The spiritual life of society is a system of ideas, values, concepts. It includes not only the accumulated baggage of scientific knowledge and achievements of previous centuries, but also the ethical norms adopted in society, values and even religious beliefs.
All the richness of people's feelings, ups and downs of their thoughts, the most ingenious creations and accomplishments create a certain fund. This is the spiritual life of society. Philosophy, art, religion, morality and science, on the one hand, store the ideas, theories, knowledge accumulated by previous generations, and on the other hand, constantly produce new ones.accomplishments. The spiritual sphere is all-pervading: it affects other layers of the life of society. For example, respect for human rights leads to the creation of democracies where the people have the ability to control official leaders.
The spiritual life of society is a complex phenomenon. However, for convenience, this field of activity is usually divided into theoretical and practical (applied). The first, starting from the experience of its predecessors, creates new ideas, creates new ideals, makes breakthroughs in scientific achievements and revolutionizes art. These new knowledge and ideas, images and values, invisible to the eye, find their expression in visible objects: new devices and techniques, works of art and even laws. The practical sphere stores, reproduces, distributes, and also consumes these developments. This changes the consciousness of people, members of society.
The spiritual life of society and the individual is a single whole. People are different, and therefore their spiritual existence is sometimes strikingly different. The environment has a huge impact on the personality, especially at an early age, at the stage of education and training. People absorb the knowledge and skills accumulated by mankind over the past centuries, master them. Then comes the turn of empirical knowledge of the world: the individual, through his experience, accepts something, and rejects something from what the collective offers him. True, there are still laws that a person is forced to reckon with, even if he does not share the moral values \u200b\u200bwhich these institutionsspawned.
It can be said that the spiritual life of society constantly affects the inner world of the individual. He is born, as it were, twice: first, a biological individual is born, and then - in the process of upbringing, training and rethinking his own experience - a personality. In this sense, society has a huge, creative influence on her. After all, as Aristotle argued, man is a social animal. And even if an individual professes Hottentot morality (if I steal from another, this is good, and if they steal from me, this is bad), then in public he will behave differently, that is, mimic a citizen with modern, generally accepted moral values (stealing is definitely bad).
On the other hand, society is unthinkable without its members, without individuals. Therefore, the spiritual life of society receives constant nourishment from individual representatives, creators, scientists, and religious leaders. Their best deeds are included in the treasury of the culture of mankind, developing society, moving it forward, improving it. In this sense, a person acts not as an object, but as a subject of spiritual values.
